Politics might prevent the Sharks coach taking over the Boks
Andy Capostagno
If the rumours are to be believed, Rudolf Straeuli’s CV is about to become complete less than five years after he decided to augment his player wage with a coaching stipend in the English backwater of Bedford.
The media have elected Straeuli as the new Springbok coach despite the fact that SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd has yet to interview the four short-listed candidates, Rudy Joubert, Allister Coetzee, Jake White and Straeuli.
Normally it would be safe to believe the press and assume that the fervent denials from the staff of SA Rugby are further examples of the kind of institutionalised mendacity that comes with the territory. But these are not normal times.
This week Minister of Sport and Recreation Ngconde Balfour stood up in Parliament and reiterated the urgent need for transformation. He does not believe that the administrators in charge of rugby and cricket in this country are serious about fast-tracking players from disadvantaged communities into elite teams. Balfour said: “There will be people who jump and scream and throw their toys out of the cot. Please do.”
It is always dangerous to make assumptions, but it might be wise for SA Rugby to consider what position Balfour might take on the issue of who should coach the national side. It is likely that he would not necessarily take kindly to the appointment of yet another white Afrikaner, whether or not Straeuli happens to be the best-qualified man for the job.
The minister might instead take the stance that if transformation is to happen it must now come from the top down, because bottom-up is patently not working. In which case, step forward Allister Coetzee, the only coach of colour on the short list and one, furthermore, who shares Balfour’s Eastern Cape roots.
Put like that it might seem to a jaundiced eye that the appointment of Coetzee would be a victory for affirmative action and provincial nepotism. It might even seem that Coetzee’s greatest attribute is that he is not white. But that would be to fall into the very trap that the minister is so keen to lambaste.
For the fact of the matter is that in rugby terms Coetzee and Straeuli have much in common. Both were still playing the game less than five years ago, Straeuli as Bedford’s eighth man, Coetzee as the Eastern Province scrumhalf.
Both gained rapid promotion in the coaching ranks and it might be argued that Coetzee’s role as Springbok midweek coach 15 months ago and as South Africa A coach at the end of last year were at least the equal of Straeuli’s generalship of the Sharks in the Super 12 and Currie Cup.
Oh, and they both speak Afrikaans as a first language.
In the circumstances it is difficult to accept this is a one-horse race despite the fact that Stormers coach Gert Smal explained his own failure to apply for the job thus: “To be honest, I have to question the integrity of the process [being used to appoint the new coach]. I strongly believe the decisions have already been made.”
Smal may have good reason for his beliefs, not the least of which would be his knowledge of the manner in which Nick Mallett got the job five years ago. That was the last time that the job was advertised (Harry Viljoen was a unilateral appointment).
Mallett was pacing the corridors waiting to be interviewed when an employee of the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) came up and asked him how to spell Hertfordshire.
Putting two and two together Mallett worked out that a press release was being prepared announcing that he had got the job and that Sarfu wanted to make sure that they spelt the English county of his birth correctly. Those with long memories may recall Mallett took over from Carel du Plessis, whose assistant was Smal.
Which brings us to the other two candidates, Joubert and White. Both have been closely connected to Springbok rugby and under, for instance, the English system would be preferred to either Straeuli or Coetzee because they have paid their dues and learnt how to coach from the ground up.
But in the wake of Viljoen’s disastrous tenure Springbok rugby needs a talisman at the top. Either Joubert or White, possibly both, would make an excellent technical assistant, something that became more plausible this week when SA Rugby agreed to “loan” Tim Lane to Saracens.
There are those who cannot bring themselves to believe that this short list is anything but a smokescreen. Now is the time for SA Rugby to prove that it is not, to prove instead that whomever the new coach turns out to be he has been elected by due democratic process. Right now Africa needs all the democracy it can get.